Soul Shoppe Videos

Character Education

Dear Parents!
Welcome to Soul Shoppe! We’re looking forward to supporting your children in their friendships, school life and social-emotional development this year. Our workshops are fun and interactive, weaving life skills and tools through stories that look like common “real-life” challenges and experiences. In their first workshop, “Check In,” we’ll work on developing emotional self-awareness and self-management skills. Here is the language we’ll be using:

The Balloon: An imaginary place inside us (we all have one) where feelings build up when we don’t get our needs met or when challenges arise. If you’re upset, acting out or withdrawing, you probably have a “full balloon.”

Leaking/Emptying the Balloon: If we don’t let our feelings out in healthy ways (emptying) they build up, and we often end up taking them out on those around us (leaking).

Checking In: The practice of stopping and noticing what feelings are in our balloons and what needs we have. If your kids are fighting, whining or acting out, you can ask them, “Can we check in? What’s in your balloon?” Look for the need underneath and help them articulate it with the “I Message.“

I Messages: One of the best ways to communicate our needs and ask for help! “I Messages” have 4 steps (fill in the sentences): “I feel…” “When people…” “I need…” “Will You Please…”

Please ask your kids what they learned from Soul Shoppe, ask them to explain the balloon to you, and talk to them about how you can use the tools as a family! We all have feelings and needs, and we could all use help sometimes with getting those needs met. Feel free to let us know what your kids think, or any questions you have!

We look forward to serving your children and your school this year.

Peace,
The Soul Shoppe Workshops Team

Dear Parents,

It’s time for our second workshop of the year, “Stop & Breathe!” In this workshop we’ll continue working on
developing emotional self-awareness and self-management skills by practicing ways to center and calm down when we feel frustrated, annoyed, or angry. Here is the language we’ll be using:

● Stop & Breathe: A six step process for getting centered so we can make wise choices. Students learn to

Stop and focus their attention.

Breathe deeply, using one of the four mindful breaths.

Think about what’s in their balloon (check in) and what they might need.

Choose the next action they want to take.

Act .

Cheer for themselves for remembering to Stop & Breathe

● Four Mindful Breaths: The Spiderman, Vacuum, Five Fingers, and Quiet breaths are techniques to use when we need to calm down and think more clearly. We can choose the style of breathing that works best for us in that particular situation.
● The 15 second “Stop & Breathe,” a way of training mindful attention using object focus and distraction.

Please ask your kids what they learned at Soul Shoppe, ask them to demonstrate the Stop & Breathe to
you, and talk to them about how you can use the different breathing techniques as a family! We all deal with
frustrations that we can’t avoid and we can help each other manage our feelings when those issues pop up.
Feel free to let us know what your kids think, or any questions you have!

Peace,
The Soul Shoppe Workshops Team

Monthly Schoolwide Theme

In addition to our adoption of Soul Shoppe curriculum, our character education program involves a monthly, school-wide theme with various teaching points. Character traits by month are: